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Appearing at the tail end of the last year, Indifferent To Your Plight is a new six track release from Berlin based wall/textured noise Sebastian Tomb. As we’ve come to expect from this project, we get a creative/ fairly original take on the genre- which adds in elements of brooding synth tone and disorientating -to-moody sound craft.
Youngster is a truly punishing ten-minute journey into lose, roughshod, crude, at points shifting walled noise. Going from the releases title, and severed hanging limps on ropes cover artwork we find out the subject here is decidedly troubling- child cannibalism.
Une Pause presents the listener with two twenty five minute dives into muffled, murky and crude walled noise from this Bordeaux based project. With each ‘wall’ been as brutally constricting as each other
Constructed and recorded quietly, using only headphones, a laptop, and Audiomulch software, Zane Trow's 2004 ambient electronic work, For Those Who Hear Actual Voices, gets its 20th anniversary edition through Room40. Interestingly recorded in a similarly clandestine fashion to its childhood inspiration, Voices is a versatile set of tracks that weave frequencies, textures, and motion to create shimmering soundscapes that interact with the environment in which they're being played. Based around the idea sounds exist as "frequencies that danced around a space just shy of full perception," this album can be enjoyed in all manners, with each listen differing from the last as time and space has shifted just enough that the frequencies present themselves in new, exciting manners.
The Silent Hour is a new crime thriller directed by Brad Anderson, and has recently been released on streaming platforms
Here’s a double bill, or rather two complimentary films from the year 2021, on DVD; both directed and written by Spanish film-maker Gonzalo Calzada. It’s a somewhat spartan package, with just trailers for extras - and truth be told they’re not great - but you are getting two films, so…
In Our Heads is a two-track journey into texturally creative-at-times-unpredictable walled noise from Serbia’s Dosis Letalis. The release is from late 2023- coming as either a C60 tape or digital download- and as of writing this review there are still physical copies available
The Last Video Store is a lovingly crafted, charming, and, at points, oddly heartwarming tribute to the Video shop era. The 2023 film blends ‘n’ blurs elements of fantasy, comedy-drama, and horror- bringing a similar inventive, quirky, and heartfelt vibe you’d find in the films of someone like Don Coscarelli ( Phantasm series, Bubba Ho-Tep). Here from Arrow Video- both in the UK and stateside- is a Blu-Ray release of the film, taking in a commentary track, and a good selection of short films/ other extras.
Veteran industrial ambient musician Nicolas Van Meirhaeghe aka Empusae has teamed up with Mattias M. Van Hulle, alias Pilgrimage to Pleroma, for this collaborative album on esteemed gothic ambient label Cyclic Law. It is a short release for the dark ambient genre, with three tracks totalling nearly twenty six minutes.
Zamat brings together three modern chamber works from Slovak composer Adrián Demoè. The pieces have runtimes between ten and thirty minutes, with the tone hovering between fragile, felt, and melancholy pressing. They are all played with skill and emotional depth by the highly respected modern ensemble Apartment House.
No stranger to the scene, TenHornedBeast returns with his take on nature, landscapes, and the emotions that are evoked by spending time in its mesmerizing presence. Capra Hircus are the wild goats of the Cheviot Hills, but in a more abstract sense, "they are the Children of Pan in an Arcadia that straddle[s] both the imagination and the real world." With this title to guide us forth, one can look at these sonic idylls as not only inspired by nature itself, but of what is inside; the wild, untamed essence that longs to find its place in this vast world. In addition, we fight daily with what is natural and what is artificial, and how much of each realm we're actually living.
Tout are an intriguing entity. Their remit appears to be the creation of an immersive sense of atmosphere and mood. Not entirely uncommon in the realms of ambient instrumental music. But what makes this duo of Nick Downes and Jonathan Fryer so appealing is that they are willing to achieve this by any means necessary. For their first three albums the pair embraced an approach that revolved around folk and alt-country, but for their latest release, Fourth, they have applied a genre handbrake turn and are now diving into the world of jazz.
Apartment Wife: Affair In The Afternoon is a mix of marital drama and Roman Porno. The early 1970s Japanese picture is a nicely pacey affair- with twisting ‘n’ turning plotting, double-crossings, and candy-coloured lit softcore embraces. Here from 88 Films is a Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in a new bright and buoyant scan, a commentary track, and a few other things.
Mother Mortis is a 2023 low-budget English horror film that attempts to weave together several horror sub-genres- in a decidedly haphazard, not always successful manner. It opens up being focused on a cross-dressing/ marigold glove-wearing serial killer hiding out in an abandoned building. Then, switches to woodland-based slasher meets dark witch horror, before throwing in low-key body horror/ satanic monster elements. Here from SRS Cinema is a region-free DVD- taking in director commentary and a few other things.
Quadrant is a recent horror/ Sci-fi fantasy film from the long-running and prolific B-movie director Charles Band. It concerns Quadrant, a VR helmet that transports users' minds into nightmarish AI worlds, to try and cure their mental health issues. Unfortunately, a Jack The Ripper obsessive dons the helmet, and blood starts to run both in the VR and real world. The film was entertaining enough- taking in neat noir-like to vivid nightmare footage, with some softcore female nudity & spurting red gore. Here from Full Moon Pictures is a release of the film- coming as either a DVD, Blu-Ray, or VHS- I’m reviewing the first of these.
Cinq Portes Soudées is the next in the series of Etant Donnes reissues from the folks over at Klanggalerie. It was the French project's fifth release( well half of it) appearing in the year 1984- taking in two around half-an-hour tracks based largely around elements of cut-up angular/ugly experimental rock, with darts into shit folk, dada-focused noise-making, and general rough/ ready ‘n’ odd soundscaping. This CD release features a shorter bonus track from around the same time- bringing the album's runtime up to fifty-seven minutes.
Lumières is a collaborative album between two Hamburg-based sound artists Asmus Tietchens and Alice Freshmouth(aka Tom Fleischhauer). The pair have been friends for the last forty years, and this album finds them offering up a selection of atmospheric soundscapes- which fall between ambience, grey post-industrial moodiness, and bleak/light-churning field recordings.
Correlations is a glossy, colourful, if at points visually distributing coffee-table art book looking at the career of The Rita( aka Sam Mckinlay) legendary/ influential Canadian wall noise/ harsh noise project. The two-hundred-page tome brings together images of the project's influences, release cover artwork, art performances connected to the project, as well several write-ups regarding The Rita.
Eureka’s limited-edition box set of Rachel Talalay’s (Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Sherlock and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) comic book sci-fi movie from 1995 is a long overdue opportunity to revisit a movie that was poorly received at the time of its original release in 1995. Starring Lori Petty (A League Of Their Own, Free Willy and Point Break) in the titular role, alongside Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive, King Kong and Birdman), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Caligula and Cat People), and rap legend Ice-T (New Jack City, Johnny Mnemonic and Ricochet).
There is, strictly speaking, the time of listening and the time of recording, and it is a rather tricky thing to try to disarticulate one from the other. For the performer, the different temporalities are more readily apparent, and there is a long tradition of composers and musical acts that have been pushing the imaginary space of live improvisation into the laps and ears of would-be listeners.
From the early 1970s, The Stone Tape is an eerier British horror-drama penned by Nigel Kneale (Quatermass And The Pit). It regards a research team finding what they believe is a psychic impression/ aka a repeating ghost within the walls of an old house. The film mixes emotional drama, with a growing sense of unease, and moments of nerve-jangling fear- often taking a more thoughtful take on horror, which will stay with you long after the film has finished. Here from 101 Films is a deluxe reissue of the film, taking in a new HD print of the film, two complementary tracks & a few other extras, plus a two hundred page reproduction of the script, a separate inlay booklet, and postcards.
The subject of snuff films, whether they exist or not, and if they do who acts in them & buys them has fascinated people for years. Snuff Queen claims to be a documentary looking into the world of Snuffing- which is meant to be a multi-billion dollar industry where people intentionally die on camera, before being revived. But in reality, it’s a mockumentary- that’s trying to satirize the idea of snuff, all connected with it, and to a lesser account documentaries about the adult film industry. It’s fair to say it’s a highly mixed affair-which moves between very amateurish & not particularly shocking, to vaguely entertaining. Here from Dark Arts Entertainment is a region-free DVD, taking in a commentary track, cut scenes, and a trailer
Star Quality- Speculations For Guitar And Voice is a collaboration between soprano singer Eleanor Westbrook and avant-garde guitarist Keir Cooper. It’s a ten-track album which flirts and shirts between the playful, alien, and the jaunting ‘n’ jarring.
Make Mine Mondo 2 is a twenty-eight-track trip back through the wackier, rawer, and downright weird 45s from the 1960’s. Moving through genres such as rockabilly, garage, raw rock ‘n’ roll, and instrumental fare. The release appears on UK’s Ace Recordings in the form of a CD.